So what else can be said about Chris Horner's ride at Redlands? The guy is clearly a super talent, and I often waver between enjoying watching him race in the States and wishing he were over in Europe. 

In an interview he's wildly entertaining, and he's proven over the past three years that he's the strongest man racing in America. Perhaps Health Net's John Lieswyn said it best when, after trying to chase Horner down on Oak Glen with a group containing strongmen like Adam Bergman (Jelly Belly-Aramark), Jurgen Van Den Broeck (U.S. Postal-Berry Floor), Glen Mitchell (Sierra Nevada) and British cross-country ace Liam Killeen, Lieswyn claimed, "Horner's got the strength of ten men. Seriously. We were working together, riding as hard as we could, and he just rode away from us." 

If Horner can hold this kind of form into the Tour de Georgia - or Philly week and the Olympic Trials in June (which are held, coincidentally, in Redlands) - things could get interesting for the man from Bend, Oregon. 

"I'm just happy with the way my [Webcor Builders] team rode," Horner said of a squad made up of mostly unknowns. "They did an awesome job and deserve a lot of the credit. Who knew they could ride that well?" 

And while Horner's Webcor teammates will likely gain some name recognition throughout the season, one very big name missing from the top of the general classification at Redlands was Colavita Olive Oil's Nathan O'Neill, who finished second overall last year to then-Saturn teammate Horner by just one second. 

Many will remember Horner's winning the overall, but a select few that witnessed the final smackdown on the Oak Glen stage last year will recall it was O'Neill pulling a select group of Horner, Roland Green, Tom Danielson and Jonathan Vaughters up the hill - in the big ring - and then waiting for Horner in the final kilometer after the pace had finally blown the group apart. 

A former rider at the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España, O'Neill went on to take the overall win at the Sea Otter Classic and taking third overall at the Tour de Georgia. 

But it's been a rough ride for O'Neill since then. His well documented face-first crash while leading The International in Altoona, Pennsylvania last August broke two vertebrae and could very well have left him paralyzed. After weeks spent in a spinal stabilizing halo device proved unsuccessful, specialists in New York City opted for a corrective surgery to strengthen the bones by inserting titanium screws into his C-2 vertebra. To add to O'Neill's anxiety over the somewhat risky procedure, on the day of his surgery, the operation was delayed by that massive power outage that hit the East Coast. 

To make matters worse, O'Neill's Saturn team soon folded and he was without a team heading into the holidays. But Colavita Olive Oil signed in him December along with three other former Saturn riders: Mark McCormack, Ivan Dominguez and Will Frischkorn. 

With a renewed confidence, O'Neill came back from his injuries in amazing fashion, winning his first race back, the Australian national time trial championship. It was an emotional win for the rugged Aussie, who attributed his faith in God as a major factor in tackling the biggest challenge he'd faced his 29 years. 

So why wasn't O'Neill at Redlands? Another injury has got him sidelined, this time a chronic knee pain resulting from a right-side crash while - you guessed it - leading February's Valley of the Sun stage race. 

"Somebody came underneath me in this turn," O'Neill said, "and basically T-boned me. Took me right out; there was nothing I could do. I was in the first 20 percent of the field, supposedly the safest place, and I still got crashed out." 

Originally, O'Neill thought all he had was some minor abrasions, but after a long ride with his team a few days later, a sharp pain in his knee hampered his pedal stroke. 

"I literally limped home after the ride," O'Neill said. "I iced it and had the team masseur check it out, and he thought I had bruised the IT band. We pretty much bought that idea, but the pain wouldn't go away." 

Back home in Grayson, Georgia, O'Neill went and saw a doctor to address the swelling. That doctor gave him the same diagnosis as Colavita's masseur, and gave him a cortisone injection. "The doctor was aggressive with it," O'Neill said, "and it helped a bit." 

O'Neill continued to ride the bike, but almost a month had lapsed and the pain persisted. Barely training, O'Neill went back to see the doc and was told to rest, so he took one week completely off the bike. When he got back on, the knee still hurt, so he drove to The Hughston Clinic in Colombus, Georgia, to see a knee specialist. 

"I was in the car all day driving," O'Neill said. "I must have seen four or five doctors while I was there." The specialists at The Hughston Clinic discovered O'Neill's crash had inflamed his  knee's plica, the tissue that encapsulates the synovial fluid in the knee joint. 

[According to www.centerpulseorthopedics.com the lining of the knee joint (synovium) secretes a clear (synovial) fluid that lubricates the joint, helping the bones of the knee move easily. To further reduce friction between bones, the tissue of the synovium has extra folds of material called plicae. Normally, a plica is small and smooth. But if it becomes irritated, it grows red and thick, causing pain and inflammation.] 

"It's like a skin over the bone of the joint," O'Neill said. "It can be bruised from a direct impact. I have two tiny contusions on the skin, one is the size of the dime, that are causing problems." 

Although the injury has been another major blow for another of the strongest bike riders in America, O'Neill says he's relieved to have finally gotten to the root of the problem. While he'll forgo all of the spring California stage race swing, he's still hoping to have a good ride at the Tour de Georgia. 

"The fingers are crossed," O'Neill said. "For now I'm continuing to ice it and strengthen some muscles around it. I'm receiving high-tech therapy: A topical anti-inflammatory that sucks into the tissue, and an electro-stim machine." He's currently having two sessions of physical therapy a week for the next month. 

"It should get better," O'Neill continued, "but in the worse case, the only solution is a little surgical snip to cut out the scar tissue. We haven't discussed the surgical procedure yet. We're trying to hope for the best." 

O'Neill reports that in the 10 days since he's been receiving physical therapy he's noticing some improvement. He rode for two hours last week without pain, and is hoping to make a second comeback in under a year. If he's able to, you can bet he'll return with the zest that saw him take the Aussie TT championships in January. 

As Sierra Nevada's Trent Klasna said, "When Nathan is around with Colavita, it's going to be a whole other team."